Removing litter and other floating debris from surface waters is desirable. Currently, large water cleaning systems are typically implemented in downstream collection points. An example of such a system is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,379,541 to Nicholas, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. These systems are typically expensive to implement and maintain, and as a result, these systems are only located in downstream locations. Thus, small upstream water channels, where much of the debris originates and gets trapped, are not addressed. In addition, due to the expense of these large systems, a watershed will typically only have one water cleaning system if it has any at all. Accordingly, what is needed is a litter collection system for collecting floating debris from the surface of flowing water in small water streams wherein the litter collection system is lightweight, portable, inexpensive, and easily deployable in multiple locations throughout a watershed.